ALL MEMBERS: We're going to bring "Ask Me Anything" to ATS!

reply to post by Springer


"" an expert or otherwise "celebrated" person logs on ATS, starts an introductory opening post describing who they are, what they do, what they're working on now, etc... and answers questions from our members who respond to the thread.""

I know i should read private messages and stuff but i don't, and i dont think im on my own in this, but seeing as the AMA with Nick Pope had a few post querying whether it was the real Nick, leading to a clarification post by you, would it not be better if Skeptic or yourself headlined the thread and then introduced the guest?

reply to post by gillyp17


Maybe they should make an ATS stamp of Authenticity to put at the top of the thread or across the avatar.. Could look kinda neat.

reply to post by PhoenixOD

It would certainly avoid a lot of needless posts speculating on the OP credentials, and free up the board for "proper" questions. And you're right it would look neat.

With the Nick Pope AMA, I have quickly noticed that the ATS format is not very conducive to an AMA.

People can't vote good questions to the top of the list, so the AMAer will just answer first come first serve, this will result in some really good questions being missed.

And unless the AMAer uses the "quote" functionality instead of the "reply" functionality, I don't know what he is answering unless I go back to the original post.

Michio Kaku, please?

Originally posted by AlienScience
With the Nick Pope AMA, I have quickly noticed that the ATS format is not very conducive to an AMA.

People can't vote good questions to the top of the list, so the AMAer will just answer first come first serve, this will result in some really good questions being missed.

And unless the AMAer uses the "quote" functionality instead of the "reply" functionality, I don't know what he is answering unless I go back to the original post.

Good point

reply to post by PhoenixOD


We are learning as we go, have a look at the OP there's a "This is the real Nick Pope.we invited as a guest for the benefit of our members" statement therein now.

WRT "ATS isn't conducive to an AMA because of the reply to function" (posted by another member) Really? How much more fair could it be? He answers the questions in the order within which they were asked. A single link click shows you what the post he's answering asked.

S...

A lot of members are asking multiple questions, which obviously mr. pope cannot answer them all. And not every poster's question(s) are getting answered. I think each member should be limited to 1 question each. Then maybe they might have their question answered. And maybe make them short and direct to the point so that mr. pope can get through them.
I think its a great idea for members to post questions a few days before the AMA, and then everyone vote for which ones to be asked by way of giving stars. This way the same question wont be posted multiple times therefore more questions can be answered.

I only asked one question back on page 5..lol It never got answered

That says a lot though



It is a great thread though (AMA), and a very interesting guest

Awesome for a first one!

reply to post by SecretKnowledge


But then it wouldn't be ask me anything it would be ask me whats popular. No offense but I think that's a terrible idea.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
reply to post by SecretKnowledge

 

But then it wouldn't be ask me anything it would be ask me whats popular. No offense but I think that's a terrible idea.

no, it would be an ask me what people want to hear answered.
have you seen some of the questions put to mr. pope?
he only answered the more 'popular' topics anyway.
some questions were asked 10+ times

reply to post by Springer


I think AMA will work fine on ATS , i just think that with each answer the guest makes the question should be quoted to save time and make things clearer for the people reading it.

For myself i knew it was the real Nick Pope as i had read the personal message before the thread started.

Maybe you could have some kind of eye catching graphic like :



which is then linked to a popup or page that explains the guest has been fully authenticated by ATS staff. I think it would look more professional.

Just an idea

Originally posted by gillyp17

I know i should read private messages and stuff but i don't, and i dont think im on my own in this, but seeing as the AMA with Nick Pope had a few post querying whether it was the real Nick, leading to a clarification post by you, would it not be better if Skeptic or yourself headlined the thread and then introduced the guest?

It might be a nice touch that would effect a percentage of readers/posters.

However, there are a number of . . . folks tending toward unaware to clueless who would not see such or who would pay no attention . . . MAYBE even if it was in red lettering at the top of each page. This psychologist has no cure for clueless and stupid or terminally willfully unaware.

Of course, doing what we reasonably can to MINIMIZE the disruption of a fun thread like AMA is probably worth doing.

Originally posted by SecretKnowledge
he only answered the more 'popular' topics anyway.
some questions were asked 10+ times

I wasn't counting but yes the same questions were asked multiple times. Not only that, but late in the thread Nick Pope said he had a "FAQ" on his website that answered some of the questions asked.

As a learning experience, let's say it would have been nice had that been mentioned at the beginning of the thread, so people could read the frequently asked questions, and refer to those answers for questions that had already been answered...no reason to waste "Ask me anything" time on questions Pope already answered in his FAQ, right? Then, why did we do that? As I said, hopefully it's a learning experience.

Then if people only asked questions not already answered in Pope's FAQ, we might get better questions that weren't already answered (some were good, but given the number of repeat questions and people asking things that had already been answered, it seemed a little chaotic).

That was probably part of the reason there were so many more questions than answers.

reply to post by SecretKnowledge



I strongly disagree about limiting posters to 1 question.

One question per post as Mr Pope suggested is reasonable.

However, many of us who ask multiple questions asked--imho--

on average

more interesting, fitting, answerable etc. types of questions than 20 questions that were redundant--seemingly repeated endlessly--but asked one question by many of the redundant folks who had not bothered to read the thread or who were fairly thoughtless assuming obvious questions asked early on--assuming that those questions had NOT been asked when they'd been asked repeatedly early on as well as peppered through the thread as new late-comers signed on and posted.

I don't care if someone asks 100 questions if most of them are interesting, fitting, useful questions. More power to them.

S[color=6699FF]ome of us are used to asking questions, interviewing people professionally. Why should our skills not be available to such threads and to ATS with such social stars in various fields interesting to ATS members???

I would like to hear from Travis Walton,but i doubt he would come to a AMA, maybe Bill Birnes,the guy with the wild hair on Ancient Aliens, Giorgio

I had none of my post answered by Mr Pope, i and another person asked him about his views on the Cash- Landrum case no reply,and it was a clear question

reply to post by jasmine23


imho, He has an aversion to pontificating about something he sees as outside his 'brief' at the MOD and whatever other more first-hand stuff he's been associated with. That case, as significant as it is, was not a UK case. It may well be one he's not even studied all that much.

I certainly don't think he likes to blather half-cocked about something he's not well studied or knowledgeable about.

It is CONCEIVABLE that he steered clear because it's a case with too many glaring certainties that would be hard to weasel out of having to deal forthrightly with. That's conceivable. I don't know that it's highly likely.

He seems to tread an interesting line.

He seems to come across as a mild mannered objectivist.

He seems to deny the reality of many things many of us who have studied the topic for decades now take as fact or probable.

Yet, he seems to hold himself out as and be cast in the role of being something of a knowledgeable expert on whatever realities there are about UFO's. That's a most curious thin line to dance back and forth across.

It seems to me that it's sort of the line of saying--"Yeah, there's some reality there but nothing all that exciting, dramatic or 'other worldly.' So calm down and go back to sleep while I ply my gig as expert about something that isn't really worth having an expert on."

THEREFORE, IN TERMS OF AMA's on ATS . . . when we have such a guest . . . our members will be champing at the bit to drag every meaty, exciting morsel possible out of the guest. And guests in Nick Pope's mode and role will clearly be resisting saying anything very significant or dramatic while still appearing to be an expert worth listening to.

That sounds like a huge set-up for big disappointments on the part of most of us on ATS.

However, I don't see a way around it.

We are dedicated to being civil and polite. And such folks can politely dance around issues and comments and questions hour after hour, if not day after day.

That will likely continue to be very frustrating to most of us on ATS and infuriating to some.

I think that's just a given.

I think the AMA's are STILL well worth doing even with that likelihood with such guests.

If nothing else, their NON-RESPONSES sorts of responses can be telling, as well. And, there's the off chance that one of them will slip-up and reveal some puzzle piece that's truly interesting.

Besides, it's just kind of fun dinking around with such blokes. One never knows what might tumble out unexpectedly. And getting them to say a lot about even not much at least reveals more of their personality and values. And that can be interesting, if not important . . . in the over all scheme of UFO's, conspiracy and looming WW3 types of issues.

imho.

.

reply to post by BO XIAN

I strongly disagree about limiting posters to 1 question

everyone would like to hear their question answered

One question per post as Mr Pope suggested is reasonable.

this is definitely the way forward

However, many of us who ask multiple questions asked--imho-- on average more interesting, fitting, answerable etc. types of questions than 20 questions that were redundant

i strongly disagree with this

Some of us are used to asking questions, interviewing people professionally. Why should our skills not be available to such threads and to ATS with such social stars in various fields interesting to ATS members???

so your saying that because this is your job that you should get to ask more questions?
you should get to ask luminaries questions while the rest of us look on?
i think you're looking at this AMA all wrong. It is for all members. Its not that hard to ask a question. im sure all members here can manage that. i for one certainly would not be happy that you get to ask multiple questions and basically have a conversation with guests while the rest of us sit around waiting our turn.

Next week's AMA guest is Tom Carey, he's one of the top experts on Roswell and just had his latest book on the subject published. Roswell remains the most famous/infamous UFO incident of all time to most people interested in the topic and it also remains an enigma to most, if there is anyone who may have the answers, or at least the right questions, we believe it's Tom Carey.

Tom Carey has a BS degree in Business Administration from Temple University, a Masters Degree in Anthropology from California State University, Sacramento, and he also received a fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Toronto. Tom became interested in UFOs while in high school and rekindled that interest in 1986 when he became the MUFON State Section Director for Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Since 1991, Tom's research has focused solely on the so-called "Roswell Incident" that occurred near the town of Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947. Tom also became a Special Investigator for CUFOS [the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies] in 1992 and served on its Board of Directors from 1997 through 2001. Tom has appeared as a guest on a number of radio and television shows concerning the Roswell Incident as well as appearing in several filmed documentaries.

Be on the lookout for a PM with a link to the thread Monday, 02 September, 2013.